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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Fresh Tomato and Oregano Soup

Searching for a interesting tomato soup recipe, I came across this Chunky Fresh Tomato Oregano Soup on the site Rock Recipes, a food blog out of Newfoundland, Canada. I like this soup for its simplicity and bold, fresh tomato flavors. It comes together in less than an hour with pretty minimal effort.

I changed a couple things from the original recipe: I omitted the vegetable broth and used water, since I did not want to dilute the pure tomato flavor. Yes there is oregano here, but that only enhances the tomato taste. I also cut back on the olive oil and butter, which was original 3 tablespoons each.

1. Combine butter, olive oil and onion in a Dutch oven or other large soup pot over medium heat. Cook until the onions soften, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook another 2 to 3 minutes until fragrant. Onions should be very soft but not brown (reduce heat if needed to prevent browning).

3. Remove the bay leaves. Pulse an immersion blender through the soup a few times to make it thicker, but do not process to a puree (the soup should be chunky). Serve garnished with a sprinkle of fresh oregano leaves and a parmesan toast round (recipe below).

Preheat oven broiler. Lightly brush baguette slices with olive oil. Transfer to a baking sheet and broil until lightly browned (watch carefully, they will burn fast). Turn bread slices over to toast the other side. Remove from oven and place a heaping spoonful of parmesan on each toasted slice. Sprinkle with paprika. Return to broiler to melt cheese (again, watch carefully to prevent the cheese from burning). Remove from oven